mickeymole's review against another edition
5.0
What a fun book to read! Rooting for Edgar all the way.
sjj169's review against another edition
4.0
Edgar had such a tough time of it. The thing is he didn't really see it as that because he simply didn't know anything else. I did laugh at several points in the book but to me it was haunting.
phaedosia's review against another edition
3.0
One of the most beautiful depictions of confession and baptism I've seen in literature. However, the book was just so sad. It left me with a feeling of hopelessness--you get enough of that in life without seeking it out in literature. Anyway, this 3-stars is not based on literary merit--just the degree to which it resonated with me. It did seem a bit meandering at times, though, and could have done with more editing. LOVE, LOVE, LOVED Udall's follow-up The Lonely Polygamist .
mbondlamberty's review against another edition
4.0
Very good read. Story moves along, you get invested in the main character.
It has a suitably happy but not a Disney ending.
Not always an easy read, the main character definitely has some way far from Disney moments, but still compelling.
It has a suitably happy but not a Disney ending.
Not always an easy read, the main character definitely has some way far from Disney moments, but still compelling.
thatpatti's review against another edition
3.0
So, I picked up this book today and I'm kindof tripping out about it, because the beginning totally takes place in my husband's hometown of Globe, AZ. Population 7,000. Really cool!
milica95's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
wilcoxrobynne's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
joelevard's review against another edition
3.0
If there is a fictional trope I could probably do without it is the precocious child narrator. I can only read so many books about weirdly bookish children with a story to tell, or a life of destiny to live. And yet it seems like every time you turn around, there is a new one being trumpeted for its "unique, pitch-perfect voice," [b:sometimes by me|7478504|Room|Emma Donoghue|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1282825369s/7478504.jpg|9585076]. Yeah, maybe I like some of these books (or [b:not especially|4588|Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close|Jonathan Safran Foer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165446871s/4588.jpg|1940137]), and I'm even planning to read one soon that is [b:over 1,000 pages long|8380409|The Instructions|Adam Levin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1287702723s/8380409.jpg|13237247] fergoshsakes. But in general, nine-year-olds are not super interesting as a rule, and it gets harder and harder to impress me by creating one that is "special" in a way that makes reading a book about her not [b:rather tiresome|6218281|The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1)|Alan Bradley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255740234s/6218281.jpg|4543476].
An easy way to get around this is the memoir novel. Sure, your lead is a precocious child. Sure, you want to use first-person voice. Just have it be narration from the character looking back over the years. It will require you to do less jumping through hoops to either write in an affected faux-simplistic style or make your narrator so extra-special that of course he uses big words and makes profound statements about the nature of existence (Jonathan Safran Foer is guilty of both of these annoying habits at the same time). So right off the bat, Brady Udall earns major points for doing just that: letting Edgar Mint tell us about his miracle childhood years after he's grown up and processed it, rather than trapping us in his limited worldview as it happens.
Because I think that would be pretty frustrating: Edgar is a compelling character, but a frustrating one: born into a life of poverty on a Native American reservation and with a brain damaged by a terrible accident (head run over by a mail truck), he has plenty of affected quirks in place from the get-go: with no memory of growing up, he's naive about the world and his place in it; he can't write but loves to type (on an old fashioned typewriter, natch); he constantly wets the bed; because he survived what should have been a certain death, he considers himself touched by God and thus spends a lot of time contemplating religion; &c. It's pretty clear this "miracle life" is going to involve a lot of slightly fantastical adventures (and it does: death-defying scrapes with bullies at a school for orphans, daring escapes in the night, a quest to find his missing mother, living with Mormons). All of this plus a child narrator would be too much to take.
But the adult Edgar proves a very amenable tour guide to this miracle life, allowing the child's POV to breathe while inserting just the right degree of perspective. Udall is also very elegant with his prose; both of his novels are consistently funny and thoughtful in equal measure. That other book is [b:The Lonely Polygamist|6944566|The Lonely Polygamist|Brady Udall|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275614975s/6944566.jpg|7178069], which is still my favorite book of 2010 (and which I still haven't reviewed), and that one's a lot better, but The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint is definitely a good start. It drags a bit too much in the middle, which is why I'm knocking it down a star, but the destination is definitely worth the journey to get there: I can think of few books that end quite as satisfyingly.
An easy way to get around this is the memoir novel. Sure, your lead is a precocious child. Sure, you want to use first-person voice. Just have it be narration from the character looking back over the years. It will require you to do less jumping through hoops to either write in an affected faux-simplistic style or make your narrator so extra-special that of course he uses big words and makes profound statements about the nature of existence (Jonathan Safran Foer is guilty of both of these annoying habits at the same time). So right off the bat, Brady Udall earns major points for doing just that: letting Edgar Mint tell us about his miracle childhood years after he's grown up and processed it, rather than trapping us in his limited worldview as it happens.
Because I think that would be pretty frustrating: Edgar is a compelling character, but a frustrating one: born into a life of poverty on a Native American reservation and with a brain damaged by a terrible accident (head run over by a mail truck), he has plenty of affected quirks in place from the get-go: with no memory of growing up, he's naive about the world and his place in it; he can't write but loves to type (on an old fashioned typewriter, natch); he constantly wets the bed; because he survived what should have been a certain death, he considers himself touched by God and thus spends a lot of time contemplating religion; &c. It's pretty clear this "miracle life" is going to involve a lot of slightly fantastical adventures (and it does: death-defying scrapes with bullies at a school for orphans, daring escapes in the night, a quest to find his missing mother, living with Mormons). All of this plus a child narrator would be too much to take.
But the adult Edgar proves a very amenable tour guide to this miracle life, allowing the child's POV to breathe while inserting just the right degree of perspective. Udall is also very elegant with his prose; both of his novels are consistently funny and thoughtful in equal measure. That other book is [b:The Lonely Polygamist|6944566|The Lonely Polygamist|Brady Udall|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275614975s/6944566.jpg|7178069], which is still my favorite book of 2010 (and which I still haven't reviewed), and that one's a lot better, but The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint is definitely a good start. It drags a bit too much in the middle, which is why I'm knocking it down a star, but the destination is definitely worth the journey to get there: I can think of few books that end quite as satisfyingly.